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When a Patagonia employee breastfed her baby in a meeting her male VP's response was a masterclass in workplace values

Talk about a "family-friendly workplace."

Holly Morissette/LinkedIn

Years after it happened, Patagonia's approach to the "family-friendly workplace" is a whole new level that still deserves our attention - and praise.

The outdoor clothing and gear company has made a name for itself by putting its money where its mouth is. From creating backpacks out of 100% recycled materials to donating their $10 million tax cut to fight climate change to refusing to sell to clients who harm the environment, Patagonia leads by example.

That dedication to principle is clear in its policies for parents who work for them, as evidenced by a 2019 viral post from Holly Morisette, a recruiter at Patagonia.

Morisette wrote on LinkedIn:

"While nursing my baby during a morning meeting the other day after a recent return from maternity leave, our VP (Dean Carter) turned to me and said...'There is no way to measure the ROI on that. But I know it's huge.'

It got me thinking...with the immense gratitude that I have for on-site childcare at Patagonia comes a responsibility to share a 'call to action'. A PSA to tout the extraordinary benefits that come along with not asking employees to make the gut wrenching decision to either leave their jobs or leave their babies. TO HAVE TO LEAVE THEIR JOBS OR LEAVE THEIR BABIES. That perhaps just one person will brave the subject with their employer (big or small) in the hopes that it gets the wheels turning to think differently about how to truly support working families.

That with a bit of creativity, and a whole lot of guts, companies can create a workplace where mothers aren't hiding in broom closets pumping milk, but rather visiting their babies for large doses of love and serotonin before returning to their work and kicking ass.

It's no wonder that Patagonia has 100% retention of moms. Keeping them close to their babies keeps them engaged. And engaged mothers (and fathers!) get stuff done. Thank you, Patagonia, for leading the way. "


Holly Morissette on LinkedIn: "While nursing my baby during a morning meeting the other day after a recent return from maternity leave, our VP (Dean Carter) turned to me and said..."There is no way to measure the ROI on that. But I know it's huge." It got me thinking...with the immense gratitude that I have for on-site childcare at Patagonia comes a responsibility to share a “call to action". A PSA to tout the extraordinary benefits that come along with not asking employees to make the gut wrenching decision to either leave their jobs or leave their babies. TO HAVE TO LEAVE THEIR JOBS OR LEAVE THEIR BABIES. That perhaps just one person will brave the subject with their employer (big or small) in the hopes that it gets the wheels turning to think differently about how to truly support working families. That with a bit of creativity, and a whole lot of guts, companies can create a workplace where mothers aren't hiding in broom closets pumping milk, but rather visiting their babies for large doses of love and serotonin before returning to their work and kicking ass. It's no wonder that Patagonia has 100% retention of moms. Keeping them close to their babies keeps them engaged. And engaged mothers (and fathers!) get stuff done. Thank you, Patagonia, for leading the way. " www.linkedin.com


Just the first eight words of Morisette's post are extraordinary. "While nursing my baby during a morning meeting..."

As if that's totally normal. As if everyone understands that working moms can be much more engaged and efficient in their jobs if they can feed their baby while they go over sales figures. As if the long-held belief that life and work must be completely separate is a construct that deserves to be challenged.

And then the comment from her male colleague about the ROI (Return on Investment) of breastfeeding—witty, considering the time and place, and yet so supportive.

On-site childcare so that parents don't have to choose between leaving their jobs or leaving their babies. Letting life integrate with work so that working families don't have to constantly feel torn in two different directions. Flexibility in meetings and schedules. Allowing for the natural rhythms and needs of breastfeeders. Making childcare as easy and accessible as possible so that employees can be more effective in their jobs.

All of this seems so profoundly logical, it's a wonder that more companies have not figured this out sooner. Clearly, it works. I mean, who has ever heard of a 100% retention rate for mothers?

Patagonia's got it goin' on. Let's hope more companies take their lead.


This article originally appeared on 8.16.19

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Family

Mom's new email signature has parents everywhere applauding her honesty about expectations

"I'm still good at my job. I'm still a professional. I'm also a mom of four kids and this is reality in America."

Meg St-Esprit|Twitter and Ketut Subiyanto|Canva

Mom creates relatable email signature for parents.

Childcare in America has been an issue since well before most of us were born, and it continues to be a struggle for parents. Daycare costs are rough—at one point in time, I paid $276 a week for one child to attend a daycare center, and that's not even the highest price I was quoted. But not everyone can afford the cost of childcare, and when you have multiple children who all need adult supervision, the cost can become astronomical.

The cost of childcare can cause some parents to make the decision to stay home while the other works if the family can survive on one income. In other instances, parents may be working from home while also juggling full-time parenting responsibilities. For parents in the latter category, one mom's new email signature is serving as a reminder that childcare is expensive and school is out for the summer.

Meg St-Esprit was in the process of looking up babysitters and summer camps and realizing how unaffordable it was to try to accommodate four children when a "snippy" email came through, according to Today.com.

"In the moment, I was like: 'This is how it's going to be — people are going to need to know that this is how it's going to be for the next couple months,'" St-Esprit, told Today.com. "I'm still good at my job. I'm still a professional. I'm also a mom of four kids and this is reality in America."

St-Esprit is a freelance journalist based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, so while her job may allow her to have some flexibility, people still expect prompt replies to correspondence. This mom decided that instead of adding additional stress to her plate, she would be brutally honest in her email signature. Honestly, the signature is pretty darn accurate. There are plenty of families in similar situations that probably wish they could change their email signature to something similar.

The signature reads, "Please note I may be slower to respond to email in the months of June, July and August due to the United States' inability to provide affordable childcare for working mothers."

St-Esprit shared a photo of her email signature to Twitter where she received a lot of support from other parents. She wrote about the benefits of universal subsidized childcare for the United States, saying, "The US is the only developed nation w/o subsidized childcare. Adding it would increase our GDP over 1 trillion dollars. Not a handout — it’s a smart decision when facing a recession and labor shortages."

While states do offer childcare assistance for lower-income families, the threshold can unintentionally cause parents to make difficult decisions to keep their childcare subsidy. I recall a phone call made by a parent who attended my child's daycare. The mom was explaining to her partner that she was given a promotion, but after speaking to the daycare director, if she took the raise, she would lose her subsidy and they would suddenly be responsible for paying nearly $900 a week. My eyes bulged at the thought, and as she collected her twins from my son's classroom, she pondered accepting the position but asking to keep the same pay because the new cost of daycare would essentially be a pay cut.

I have no idea what the outcome was in that situation because I was just a bystander, but the conversation stuck with me. It partly stuck out because I could've benefitted from a subsidy and partly because many middle-class families struggle with affording childcare but don't qualify for any sort of program to assist.

In a different tweet, St-Esprit also mentions this in-between experience.

"Today I went to my 4yo’s PreK Counts classroom for yoga with a special grownup. This is the only subsidized childcare my children have been able to access as middle earners and it’s been a GIFT. It also reduces educational costs long term because of the early education benefits," the freelance journalist wrote.

Surprisingly, through St-Esprit's frustrated signature, she found solidarity in the email responses she's received.

"I work with a lot of clients, so I thought maybe I should delete it," St-Esprit told Today.com. "Then people started to reply to it, writing: 'Side note: I love this.' 'Side note: Oh my gosh, this.'"

Obviously, there's something a little wonky with America's way of handling childcare. It's especially noticeable in comparison with other industrialized countries that have found a way to not only offer extended paid parental leave but also provide subsidized childcare for working parents.

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Internet

Divorce attorney shares why working moms are leaving their marriages

Women are not shocked by his answer.

Cottonbro from Pexels|Canva - Dennis Vetrano Jr.|TikTok

Working moms are filing for divorce more often

Being a parent is a full time job but without the money and health benefits. Kissing scrapped knees, planning meals, scheduling doctor appointments, extracurricular activities, PTO meetings, the list could go on for days. But in today's society many women with children not only work inside the home but outside as well because a two income household is necessary in many cases. So why are moms leaving their marriages to do it all on their own?

Divorce attorney, Dennis Vetrano Jr. posted a video to TikTok that has over 7.4 million views, explaining the rise of working moms filing for divorce. The revelation came as no surprise to women or other divorce attorneys who commented under Vetrano's video but it may be surprising to some men.

You know how there's that saying that girls mature faster than boys, the initiation of divorce by working moms may be a continuation of that notion.

"I'm seeing working moms doing it all, and I'm seeing the husbands step back and say, huh I don't gotta do a thing. She's got the kids, she's got the groceries, she's got the laundry, she's got the meals, she's got the work," Vetrano says. "That's the theme and women are tired."

Over the past few decades women have taken on more roles outside of the home out of necessity and desire but their load inside the home hasn't decreased. The wives Vetrano is speaking about have partners who haven't caught up with the evolution of roles. Essentially still living like the 50s expecting their wives to take care of all household responsibilities while ignoring the fact that their wives work outside of the home just like they do.

"We even filed the divorce, find the attorney, created the child custody schedule," one woman wrote.

"After my divorce I had one less child to take care of. Leveled up," another commented.

"I will never forget the day I said 'if i'm doing it all by myself, I might as well be by myself,'" someone else wrote.

Another divorce lawyer even chimed in saying that her clients who are women are often much happier after divorce. It certainly makes you wonder about the maturity theme here. Not in the way of men being immature but women adapting much more quickly to societal shifts as some men struggle to keep up or even see the correlation that leads to divorce.

Take a look at the video below and if you're feeling extra adventurous, check out the comments under the main video to see if you agree with the sentiments women are expressing.

@drvlaw

The major theme I’ve been seeing? Women are TIRED #divorce #divorced #divorceparty #divorcedlife #divorcedmom #divorcesucks #divorcecoach #divorcedparents #divorceattorney #divorcesupport #divorceparties #divorcehelp #divorcerecovery #DivorceForce #divorcecourt #divorcecommunity #divorcedonedifferently #divorceddad #divorcechaos #divorceproceedings #divorcedmoms #divorcee #divorcecoaching #divorcees #divorcecake #divorcelawyer #divorceeducation #divorcesurvivor

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Wellness

A four-day work week could be in the near future if California gets its way

Now this is an idea we could get behind.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Americans' long working hours put them at a disadvantage in several ways.

Many Americans hope for the day when the regular work week resembles that many of the other countries, with fewer work days, daily siestas and extensive paid leave packages. Having a nap pod under your desk or taking a six-week holiday is, to Americans, what fairytales are made of. Add in up to three years of paid parental leave, and you’re really entering a realm of perfection that Americans can only dream of. But we could be moving closer to those things than we think. While we're far from having three years off for bringing home a new baby, there are some moves toward redressing the balance between the amount of time spent at work and family (or other activity) time.

California recently introduced a bill, AB 2932, that aims to cut the work week from 40 to 32 hours. This reduction in hours would allow employees to have a four-day work week. The bill also outlines how overtime would be applied, where time and a half pay is required after an eight-hour work day, and anything above 12 hours is compensated with double pay. Workers also would not be docked pay if they did not meet the 32-hour minimum for their work week. While the work week would be a day shorter, employees would not be required to work more than an eight-hour shift. The proposed changes would only affect companies that have 500 employees or more.

If AB 2932 passes, California would be the first state to change the standard work week, which has been set at 40 hours since 1940. It was Ford Motor Companies that innovated the five-day, 40-hour work week in 1926. Congress was nearly 15 years behind with making it a federal law.

The shorter work week wouldn’t just be good for work-life balance, but it could also benefit Californians' mental and physical health. The American Heart Association discovered that people under 50 were at a higher risk for stroke when they worked more than 10 hours a day for a decade or more. A different study completed across 14 countries found that people who worked long hours were 12% more likely to become heavy drinkers. Researchers in Iceland found that when employees worked fewer hours each week “they felt better, more energised, and less stressed, resulting in them having more energy for other activities, such as exercise, friends and hobbies.”

Additional benefits of a shorter work week include lower overhead and other costs, as employees take fewer sick days and their productivity rises when they are at work.

It seems clear that a shorter work week has enough benefits to begin to sway any fence sitters. If California passes this law, the future of the 40-hour, five-day work week might eventually become a thing of the past across the entire country.

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